Thai Cabinet extends foreigners' work permit to 2 years

[Don Mega]

Seems like that maybe aimed at people from other Asian countries who wont require a visa soon under the Asean agreements to enter Thailand, also explains the "prevent residency" aspect.

Or is it really in regard to foreign labour working on building sites, fishing etc., rather than professional foreign workers?

Pink cards are issued to migrant workers so yes this appears to only benefit those who do labour work on building sites/fishing boats etc etc.

[Johnniey]

My employers asked for a two year work permit for me in November and I got one. I am on a non-O marriage visa. Maybe the officer in charge didn't notice.

We've always been able to get a WP on that visa.

[Moonsterk]

Topic from 2009 - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/236262-two-year-work-permit/

From 2010:

For how long will your work permit be valid?

Under the former Working of Aliens Act of 1971 the validity of work permits was limited up to 1 year. Furthermore the validity of the work permit was tied to the visa period. Under the new act the work permit may be valid up to two years and the validity of your work permit will no longer be tied to the duration of your visa. If you do not have a one year visa you will not need to renew your work permit after every visa run as before. But you will still need to have a valid visa to stay in Thailand

http://www.thailandpropertydoctor.com/2010/06/09/working-thailand-work-permits/

Working of Aliens Act B.E .2551

Section 21. Permits issued under this Act shall be valid for two years from the date of issue, except that the permit issued to an alien under Section 12 shall be valid for the period he has been permitted to engage to work in the Kingdom under such laws.

But your visa may be tied to the validity of your WP, Penang wanting 9 month validity last time I checked.

Incidentally as I pointed out before, this topic is regarding migrant labour, ie Myanmar workers etc. Not western expats.

[Moonsterk]

Seems like that maybe aimed at people from other Asian countries who wont require a visa soon under the Asean agreements to enter Thailand, also explains the "prevent residency" aspect.

Or is it really in regard to foreign labour working on building sites, fishing etc., rather than professional foreign workers?

Correct, not a very concise article.

[Shawn0001]

How can you have a 2 year work permit without a 2 year visa?

If you have to renew the visa every 12 months what is the point of having a 2 year work permit?

I think this is just for TR38 holders anyway, they are all from ASEAN, perhaps they can get a longer visa.

[Tomtomtom69]

Seems like that maybe aimed at people from other Asian countries who wont require a visa soon under the Asean agreements to enter Thailand, also explains the "prevent residency" aspect.

ASEAN countries you mean and they already don't need a visa to enter Thailand. Most of them haven't required visas for years, the last one to be added to the list was Myanmar, but only for air arrivals of up to 14 days.

ASEAN however changes very little when it comes to work permits, except for 8 categories of skilled labour.

To prevent permanent residency is interesting - however, I recall a guy in Mae Sot who told me that while westerners who work in the kingdom can eventually apply, Burmese migrant labourers will never be eligible.

While they may more easily be able to find work in the kingdom (though it's usually menial labour of course) and not that anyone would be jealous about that, their rights are more restricted than those of westerners and foreigners of other countries working on a non-imm visa and work permit.

[dageurreotype]

Now if they can scrap that annoying 90 day reporting..

A reciprocal 90 day report to immigration in every other country Thais are welcomed into, particularly Pussy UK, would be nice. Let's see how they like it Oh, I forgot. Most other countries are civilised and brook no bigotry.

Edited February 27, 2016 by dageurreotype

[tomross46]

" Permanent residency "

Maybe it means the time spent on the work permit does not go to qualify towards the time needed to apply for the expensive procedure to obtain one of the 100 they give out each year permanent residences, after the years and years with continuous visa sequential stamps, I am only guessing , as so many things with red tape it is there to confound me and you !

I have a PR and have had it 19 years.Under the requirements then, I do not know what they are now, I had to have had a work permit, paid taxed and worked for a BOI company for a minimum of 3 years. There were also requirement on language, health, criminal background check, verification from all other companies I had worked. and translated copies of all education degrees, diplomas and certificates. After all documents are processed I was called in and went through an interview in Thai. The whole vetting process can take up to a year.